34 THE EVOLUTIONIST AT LARGE. 



watch and imitate the actions of their prede- 

 cessors. Otherwise, if the flock happens to 

 come to a chasm, running as they often must 

 with some speed, any individual which stopped 

 to look and decide for itself before leaping 

 would inevitably be pushed over the edge by 

 those behind it, and so would lose all chance 

 of handing down its cautious and sceptical 

 spirit to any possible descendants. On the 

 other hand, those uninquiring and blindly 

 obedient animals which simply did as they 

 saw others do would both survive them- 

 selves and become the parents of future and 

 similar generations. Thus there would be 

 handed down from dam to lamb a general 

 tendency to sequaciousness a follow-my- 

 leader spirit, which was really the best safe- 

 guard for the race against the evils of insub- 

 ordination, still so fatal to Alpine climbers. 

 And now that our sheep have 'settled down 

 to a tame and monotonous existence on the 

 downs of Sussex or the levels of the Mid- 

 lands, the old instinct clings to them still, and 



